Policy

This weight will create greater opportunities for students at struggling schools to enroll at schools with strong track records by encouraging successful schools to serve more struggling students successfully, without compromising these schools’ character or success.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, we offer students at “schools in need of improvement” (SINI schools) the opportunity to transfer to non-SINI schools. The NCLB weight will help more students take advantage of this transfer opportunity and facilitate students’ matches with high-performing schools. We will provide $2,000 per child to a successful school that takes a child transferring under the NCLB process. The $2,000 will be for each year the child is enrolled at the school, for up to two years.

This weight will go into effect for students participating in the fall NCLB transfer process. The money will be provided as part of the October 31st register adjustment. However, OSEPO and the ISC will work with each school to determine the number of transfer students who have enrolled, and ASA will be provided in September in order to allow the school to use new money in a timely fashion. If the student drops out before October 31st, the school will be exposed to losing the money.

Eligibility

Eligible receiving schools will receive notification from OSEPO, along with an analysis of seats identified as available for NCLB transfers. To be eligible for this funding, a school must:

• Be eligible under State and Federal law to enroll transfers under NCLB Public School Choice, which means the school cannot be a Title I “School In Need of Improvement” or in “Corrective Action” or “Restructuring” under NCLB.
• Have demonstrated strong student achievement gains in 2005–06 and obtain a Quality Review score of “proficient” or higher in 2006–07. “Strong student achievement gains” will be determined based on measures patterned after those in the draft Progress Reports being distributed to schools this spring. When eligible receiving schools are sent their seat analysis, OSEPO will indicate which schools can receive additional funds for each transfer student.
• Respond to the seat analysis from OSEPO and consider making additional seats available for NCLB transfers.
• Enroll students transferring under NCLB in Fall 2007. Students are only eligible for this FSF weight if they transfer through the centralized NCLB Public School Choice process.

Note: All eligible receiving schools are expected to accept transfers under NCLB whether they qualify for this initiative or not.